City Council Committee Agendas

Mount Vernon City Council Finance Committee Minutes March 22, 2017 Present: Councilmembers Fiedler, Hulst, Hudson, Lindquist, Molenaar, and Quam Staff present: Doug Volesky, Bill King, Chief Dodd, Peter Donovan, Chief Brice, Chris Phillips and Isaac Huffman. 1) Minutes from February 2017 were approved. 2) Peter introduced Jacque Beamer, from BrandQuery LLC, who has been working on the Mount Vernon Marketing Campaign. Her company has been working with the marketing committee for about a year and has done various surveys on questions like livability and why people think of those cities to help focus the new marketing campaign. A new marketing logo was shown as well as new taglines that are based on “Uniquely Yours”. The campaign will utilize social media, a guerilla campaign of stamped postcards at local festivals, advertising posts in Facebook, and website advertising on news sites. Physical signs throughout the community will be consistent to create a seamless branding. The goal is to start this campaign in April. 3) Parks and Enrichment Services - Bill reviewed a proposed Volunteer Services Agreement. This is part of a WCIA audit mandate for risk mitigation. Mount Vernon Trail Builders has worked closely with the Parks Foundation to create an agreement that will meet that mandate. This agreement can be used for any group that will be actively volunteering in the City. Background checks will be available for those who will be working with children, elderly or potential vulnerable groups. Liability insurance and required certification requirements are detailed in the agreement as well as dispute resolutions. This will be brought before Council as soon as possible for adoption. 4) Outstanding Utility Liens – The City currently has liens on 278 properties for non-payment of utility fees. The total owed for all of these liens is over $590,000. Of these liens there are 70 properties with a total of 700 liens on them. The total owed on these liens is approximately $400,000. Foreclosure processes are a method for collecting on these liens. The City could contract with an attorney that will begin this process. It is a long process, but often results in collecting on the liens. Council was in favor of moving forward with this process and beginning with properties with 10 or more liens and over $5,000 in past due payments. 5) Financial Monthly Report – Doug reviewed different revenue and expense charts that he is going to be making available on a monthly basis notes on these if applicable. Doug did announce that the 2017 sales tax collections to date are $281,566 above the 2016 collections for the same period. 6) Payroll consulting Master Services Agreement – Doug presented a proposed agreement that Council will be asked to vote on at tonight’s meeting. This is a consultant that will be helping with the transition to lag payroll and initiation of electronic time sheets as well as evaluating audit risks in the payroll process. Adjourned at 6:54 p.m. Submitted by Rebecca J. Wade